Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Sorry for the weeklong hiatus sans any warning. There was a problem with the internet connection in the new flat and it took almost a week for the telephone company to sort it out. Today, the problem´s finally fixed and so I´m back for good, I hope. ;)

Anyway, I haven´t been taking outfit photos lately because the days are getting a lot colder and so I´m always bundled up in thick jackets, turtlenecks and jeans, my daily winter uniform. For now, I´m posting here a 3rd what-I-wore installment on my latest trip to Madrid at the beginning of this month. So late I know because today´s the last day of November, hehe.

Aside from visiting El Prado Museum, we sneaked in at the Reina Sofia too and posed beside one of my fave paintings, Joan Miró´s Self Portrait II. If you like doodling, you´ll fall in love with his paintings. They look like doodles done by a child.

This one´s titled Head of a Man ( I think). His paintings are fun, colorful and so playful! :)

The painting below were done by Salvador Dalí which has a¨delicate¨ title. I like his style too. The colors that he used are so vivid and his brush strokes are so fluid and energetic. His paintings are abstract, complex and sometimes morbid but I like them anyway. hahaha!

Here´s another one of his:

Leaving you a photo of me at the 3rd floor balcony of the Reina Sofía Museum.

﻿Too bad, we went there earlier in the month and not later. I could have sneaked in at one of the H&M stores there and got myself a Lanvin for H&M shirt. So what about you? Did you score some Lanvin in your place? ;)

More stories and pretty things to post soon. Bye for now and see you around! ;)

Monday, November 22, 2010

This was what I wore the other day while running some errands. The weather wasn´t so cold and so I got to wear a short jacket and a lighter top ( but long sleeved) to wear around the house and in the language school. When I go out, this getup is always accompanied by a thick jacket. Hey, I´m tropical. ;)

I´ve forgot to put on my boots when I took these photos and so I had to ¨edit¨ the feet portion because I´m wearing some fuzzy pink house slippers. hahaha!

Sometimes when I take self- photos, someone just pops out of nowhere and ends up on my photos. See that? ;)

In your photos it could be your cat or dog, bro or sis or a family member but my case it´s the hubz! So who´s usually the phantom in your photos? ;)

Friday, November 19, 2010

I agree, this is a lame title. hahaha! But if you have a huge pimple on your face and you´re bloated, the best way to draw attention away from the not so nice parts of your body is through the neckline, right? ;)

I love collecting pendants. I have a lot of them. When I say a lot, I mean a LOT. I don´t know why I collect pendants when I hardy ever wear a necklace except when I feel like prettifying myself which I do rarely (that is when I go out). This is just a sample of them which I think have also appeared in my blogs.

the mask

All my pendants have pet names. I like calling them by their pet names. Do you do that too? ;) The first one is the mask because it reminds me of of a Venetian mask or an African mask like ones below.

The next one is called the black pilgrim. I bought this in Santiago ( St. James) de Compostela when we did the Galician trip last year. All pilgrims carry a sea shell with them when they travel and pay homage to the body of St. James in Compostela. I wasn´t an official pilgrim per se because I cheated. I didn´t go there walking, mounted on a bike or on a horse, I went there by train. hahaha! The shell´s made of azabache. A black stone believed to ward off evil.

the black pilgrim

﻿The next one´s my window catedral. You know those stained glass windows usually found on churches? Well, this pendant reminds me of them. On a sweeter note, my childhood friend S used to make a dessert called window cathedral made of cooked seaweed jelly (in different colors) with cream. It was so delicious, I could still feel the creamy tase on my mouth. Yum, yum!

window cathedral

The last one´s the scarab. It reminds me of the movie The Mummy. Only that this one doesn´t have antlers, isn´t deadly and is gold plated. I bought this on sale at my favorite jewelry store here 2 years ago. Sometimes, I also think of this is as my Incan pendant.﻿

the scarab

More to come soon. Just give me time to photograph most of them. So are you a pendant lover? Do you have pet names for them too? The nice thing about pendants is that you don´t need a separate chain for each of them. You only need a silver and gold chain, et voila, you already have a new necklace every time you dress up! ;)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

No new outfit photos right now. Still busy with the new flat. I didn´t have time to take outfit photos but here´s what what I wore inside my purple coat when I was in Madrid. ;)

turtleneck top and tights- Zara

skirt- Zara

When you´re living in a country where there´s a Zara store in almost every corner, the proability of wearing Zara from head to toe is almost the same as eating paella everyday. Just kidding. We only have 2 Zara stores in my city but that thing about paella is true because you can buy it anywhere here.hahaha! Anyway, the floral skirt is a spur of the moment buy duringthe summer sales this year. I´m glad I did it because it´s becoming my most versatile piece to mix and match because of the colors. I first wore ithere.

Leaving you a photo of the world famous Guernica painting by Picasso at the Reina Sofia Museum. It´s forbidden to take photos of the painting inside the sala where it´s hanged. I had to take it at the adjacent room where picture taking is allowed. The result isn´t that bad at all, no? Just click on the photo to see the larger version. ;)

Friday, November 12, 2010

Sunday morning was spent at the Prado Museum. There was an exhibit of Auguste Renoir´s paintings at one of the salas but the line is too long ( for entrance tickets and entrance to sala) and so we opted out. Instead we went to see Rubens´works, Velasquez´ Las Meninas and Goya´s The Naked and the Cloth Maja. We only had until midday to see the sights and then presto, off to my cold city again. huhuhu!

I planned to wear thispairbut I got blisters after one day of walking with it and so silver flats it was.

ring- Sfera

On the way back to the train station we stopped by El Parque Retiro. Glad to have stopped here. Everything is nice and colorful in the heart of old and gray Madrid.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿ Can´t stop taking a photo of these buildings at Alcala street.

Further down the street, a huge crowd was settling in at La Puerta de Alcala. They´re having sound tests for the MTV Europe Awards that night.﻿ Too bad we had to leave for Vitoria in the afternoon.

I was hoping I could see a few uhurm, ¨stars¨ and photograph the cool guys of Linkin Park of which my li´l Sis was a diehard fan but all I saw were overexcited fans of God knows whom. Okay fine, so I was a little giddy too. hahaha! So that´s how my Madrid weekend ended. Oh, and we stopped by the Reina Sofia Museum too but that would be in another post. ;)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Autumn is our travel season. The weather isn´t so cold nor so hot and for me is the most colorful season of the year aside from spring. I consider myself lucky to be living in a 4-season place right now and so I enjoy every minute of each season. It´s a far cry from the very hot or the very wet season that I´m used to back home. ;)

stripey top- Dolce & Gabbana

The hubz had to attend some social gathering in Madrid last weekend and so I tagged along.We usually travel by train when we do long distance travelling around here. This time we´re able to get a discount in the ¨Preferente¨ class and had some ¨nibblers¨ and drinks to go with it.The train´s wine list was actually good. I chose cava( Spanish champagne) to go with my ¨nibblers¨. ;)﻿

You know that you´re in Madrid when you see the Cuatro Torres ( Four Towers). Photo was taken just before the day turned cloudy.

To make up for the tattered shorts I added a vest. If you´ve been reading my posts, you´ll probably notice that I go for a very casual and relaxed style. Later, in Madrid, I´ve discovered that wearing tattered shorts put me in a seriously awkward situation. An anecdote about that soon. ;)

vest- Bershka, shoes- thrifted

So how´s your week so far?﻿ There´s nothing here but rain, rain and more rain. In some places in Europe it´s already snowing! It seems that winter is knocking everyone´s doors early. ;)

Sunday, November 7, 2010

I´ve always wanted to pass by this place every time we visit St. Jean de Luz or Biarritz. Last Monday, we finally did it just before it closes it´s door for the next summer. The landscape is breathtaking. The place is surrounded by an English garden so you know what that means. What a perfect way to spend All Saints Day here. :)

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Since it´s predicted that it´s gonna rain on Sunday until Monday, we took a short trip to Roncesvalles last Saturday. The weather bureau got it all wrong this time because it was pouring hard after our lunch there. Too bad, the place looks so picturesque but this was the only photo that I was able to take before the first huge raindrops fell.

Anyway so here´s what I wore:

I bought this cape/jacket at the Mango Outlet Mall in Lisbon ( of all places!) last summer. I´m glad that knitted jackets such as this are trendy this season. I´ve always wanted something flowy but not too long and with short sleeves. :)

Just as the raindrops continue to fall, the wind became harsher too. Just look at the ¨hair nest¨ on top of my head. That´s coiffure gone terrible. hahaha!

It´s a Halloween weekend. Have you gone treat or tricking? ;) Unfortunately, we don´t celebrate Halloween here and it was cold and rainy most of the time. So we just stayed at home and lighted candles for our ¨dearest departed¨ especially my Dad and grandparents and visited Father In-law in the cemetery. Okay, so we did travel a little. Will be showing you some autumn photos soon. ;)

So what about you? ;)

Blowing foggy kisses from here,

Che

PS: Pardon the bloated face and unmanageable hair. I´m having that dreaded ¨time¨ of the month. ;)